Good Sheep of the Good Shepherd

4th Sunday of Easter April 29, 2012 (Jn 10:11-18)

I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father."

Jesus uses the image of a good and loving shepherd to demonstrate His relationship with us, His followers. He tells us that He is the Good Shepherd who loves each of His sheep, that is, each of us. He is ready to lay down His life for His sheep - for us. He is divine but is willing to die for mankind. Such is Jesus' love and care for us.

As our Divine Shepherd, Jesus leads us to the Kingdom of the Father, where we will find verdant pastures and restful waters (cf. Ps 23:2). He offers us not just guidance, but loving guidance. He guides us in our life journey because He cares for us so much and He doesn't want any of us to be lost. He desires all men to be saved (cf. 1 Tim 2:4).

Jesus' love for mankind is the reason why His Church is Catholic or universal. His love reaches out beyond His circle of followers and even beyond the Jewish nation. His love is for all. It is even for those who haven't yet heard of Him nor believed in Him. It is also for those who persecute Him, as we clearly see in St. Paul's story. Jesus loves those sheep who haven't entered His fold yet. Truly, Jesus' great love for the human race is magnificent and all-embracing!

The great love and care that our Good Shepherd has for us calls us to respond in faith and obedience. If we truly believe that Jesus is our Good Shepherd, then we will let Him lead us. As good sheep, we must follow the Good Shepherd and faithfully listen to His voice always. In times of trouble, we often feel that Jesus has abandoned us. But probably we only felt that Jesus was absent because we were too busy listening to other voices or to our own convictions. As good sheep, we cannot journey on our own. Being successful in our journey entails entrusting ourselves to Jesus, our shepherd. He is always there because our Good Shepherd never leaves His flock. But we must always keep close to Him.

Today, as we reflect on the great love of Jesus who laid down His life for His sheep, we also join the whole flock of Christ in praying for vocations. Inspired by the Good Shepherd's love, may young people courageously answer God's call for them to serve in the priestly or religious life. And may those who are not called to this service continue to live out their vocation as Christians in whatever state of life they are in.

May we continue our journey towards verdant pastures as good sheep of the Good Shepherd!

A Look of Mercy, A Glance That Cares

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 19, 2009 (Mk 6:30-34)

The Apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

In the Gospel today, we see Jesus give value to rest. He wanted His Apostles to rest as they have just returned from their missionary journeys. As disciples of Christ who bring His Word to others, we also need to rest. We need to pray and reflect. We need to have time alone with God to check our relationship with Him.

Jesus, in the Gospel, seeing the people who were like sheep without a shepherd (Mk 6:34), sacrificed His private time and the time of His Apostles in order to teach the great crowd. He knew how much the people were thirsting for God's Word. He had pity on them and He quenched their thirst for the nourishing Word.

As followers of Christ, we also ought to have great concern for our neighbor, especially for those who are in need, physically or spiritually. In these days, we usually look at people, especially those in need, as if they were just "other people". We don't see them as people we need to help, as people who, like us, are in need of God and of His life-giving Word.

This is the problem of our generation - indifference. As long as someone has no direct effect in our lives, as long as we don't need that someone for anything at all, we don't care about him. Jesus, on the other hand, looks upon people with a look of mercy, a glance that cares.

As Christians, we need to cast upon others this look of mercy, this glance that cares. We need to imitate Christ who cares for others, who does not consider the crowd as a great bother, but nourishes them and gives them what they need. We should also imitate the early Christians who sold their possessions in order to help those who are in want (Acts 4:32-35).

This is the mark of true Christians - love and concern for others. This is how we are to show Christ to others - by our love.

A Shepherd's Love

4th Sunday of Easter May 3, 2009 (Jn 10:11-18)

"I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not the shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father."

By using the image of a good shepherd, Jesus speaks of how He cares for His followers. He speaks of laying down His life for His sheep, something other hired men won't care enough to do. Jesus says He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. He has a very special relationship with each member of His flock. He knows them each by name.

The symbolism of the Good Shepherd explains to us Jesus' magnificent love. Imagine a shepherd, giving his life to save his sheep; a man, voluntarily dying to save animals! Indeed, God's love is something very great. It's a mystery that only God, in His wisdom, can understand. It will leave us asking, "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" (Ps 8:4).

Yes, what are we that Jesus would lay down His life for us? Who are we that God would care to know our name? We are sinners, unworthy of God. Nevertheless, He loved us, so much so that He laid down his life for us.

Jesus also speaks about other sheep that are not yet into His fold. This symbolizes the universality of God's love. God loves everyone and treats us all as His children. Nevertheless, we are given the freedom to choose whether or not we will be His faithful sheep. Of course, even if we choose not to follow Him, we would still be His sheep, and our Shepherd will never stop calling us into His fold.

The Good Shepherd is also an image of a perfect leader. We, too, have little flocks of which we are shepherds. We could be leading a small group, an organization, or maybe raising children, perhaps. The Good Shepherd should be our model of genuine love and concern for our flocks. Like Jesus, we are invited to be good shepherds, ready to sacrifice for our sheep, ready to help our neighbor even if we shall lose something for it, ready to love more even if it will hurt. We must follow Jesus' example.

Today's celebration invites us to heed the call of our Shepherd, for even if we walk through the dark valley, we will not fear, as long as we follow Jesus (cf. Ps 23:4). Like a shepherd leading his flock towards verdant pastures and restful waters, Jesus will surely lead us from this dark valley we call earth, to the repose of heaven (cf. v.3).

The Church also invites us today to pray that more young men follow Jesus and serve him, reflecting the goodness of the Shepherd in priestly ministry.

Like Jesus, may we be filled with ardent love for our neighbor and be shepherds of each other, helping one another and listening to the voice of the One Shepherd - Jesus.